Everyday Life in South Asia, Second Edition

Description

This anthology provides a lively and stimulating view of the lives of ordinary citizens in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. For the second edition of this popular textbook, readings have been updated and new essays added. The result is a timely collection that explores key themes in understanding the region, including gender, caste, class, religion, globalization, economic liberalization, nationalism, and emerging modernities. New readings focus attention on the experiences of the middle classes, migrant workers, and IT professionals, and on media, consumerism, and youth culture. Clear and engaged writing makes this text particularly valuable for general and student readers, while the range of new and classic scholarship provides a useful resource for specialists.

Author Bio

Diane P. Mines is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Appalachian State University. She is author of Fierce Gods: Inequality, Ritual, and the Politics of Dignity in a South Indian Village (IUP, 2005).

Sarah Lamb is Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology at Brandeis University. She is author of White Saris and Sweet Mangoes: Aging, Gender and Body in North India and Aging and the Indian Diaspora: Cosmopolitan Families in India and Abroad (IUP, 2009).

Reviews

“Mines and Lamb have once again provided an eminently readable, highly engaging and varied set of case studies, organized along major axes of current concern, both practical and intellectual. . . . [A] real joy to teach!”
— Margaret Mills, The Ohio State University

“This wonderful collection serves as a unique introduction to cultural life in contemporary South Asia. The essays included here provide insights into everyday life that are unavailable from any other single source. This text will be of great interest to scholars and students in anthropology, sociology, gender studies, religious studies, geography, and communication studies.”
— Akhil Gupta, University of California, Los Angeles

Customer Reviews

Table of Contents

AcknowledgmentsNote on TransliterationIntroductionMap

I. The Family and the Life Course Introduction1. One Straw from a Broom Cannot Sweep: The Ideology and Practice of the Joint Family in Rural North India Susan S. Wadley2. Allah Gives Both Boys and Girls Patricia Jeffery and Roger Jeffery3. "Out Here in Kathmandu": Youth and the Contradictions of Modernity in Urban Nepal Mark Liechty4. Rethinking Courtship, Marriage and Divorce in an Indian Call Center Cari Costanzo Kapur5. Love and Aging in Bengali Families Sarah Lamb

II. GendersIntroduction6. New Light in the House: Schooling Girls in Rural North India Ann Grodzins Gold7. Offstage with Special Drama Actresses in Tamilnadu, South India: Roadwork Susan Seizer8. Breadwinners No More: Identities in Flux Michele Ruth Gamburd9. Life on the Margins: A Hijra’s Story Serena Nanda10. Crossing "Lines" of Difference: Transnational Movements and Sexual Subjectivities in Hyderabad, India Gayatri Reddy

IV. Practicing ReligionIntroduction17. The Hindu Gods in a South Indian Village Diane P. Mines18. The Feast of Love McKim Marriott19. The Delusion of Gender and Renunciation in Buddhist Kashmir Kim Gutschow20. Muslim Village Intellectuals: The Life of the Mind in Northern Pakistan Magnus Marsden21. In Friendship: A Father, a Daughter and a Jinn Naveeda Khan22. Vernacular Islam at